This invention relates to handguns that store ammunition within the frame of the grip and that have one or more openings in that frame. In particular, it relates to a safety panel that is inserted in between the grip cover and the frame to protect the user of the handgun should ammunition within the grip explode.
In automatic and semi-automatic handguns, ammunition is stored in the grip of the gun. As bullets are fired, a spring mechanism forces bullets up into the barrel of the gun. In some designs for these guns, the frame of the gun, which holds the bullets within the grip, has one or more openings in each side. For example, the 1911 design for a 45 caliber semi-automatic by John Browning (see FIGS. 3 and 4), which was produced and sold by Colt Manufacturing and other companies, has a large aperture in each side of the frame. The purpose of these apertures is to reduce the weight of the gun and reduce manufacturing costs.
Normally, an aperture in the frame of a gun that stores ammunition in the grip does not present any problems. However, if a defective bullet is fired; those apertures can result in injury to the shooter. For example, in a squib load, a round is loaded with only the primer in it. When the round is fired, the ignition of the primer may cause the bullet to leave its casing but remain in the barrel and block the next shot, which causes a “blowout” back towards the shooter. A blowout may also occur if a round is loaded with a double charge of gun powder, or if the round has been reloaded several times, weakening the casing, or if the round is improperly loaded in the gun. If a blowout occurs, it may, in turn, ignite a bullet stored in the chamber in the grip and, when that bullet ignites, it may ignite other bullets in the chamber, causing the grip of the gun to explode. If there is an aperture in the frame of the grip, hot gases and shrapnel under great pressure will pass through the aperture. If the grip panel that covers the aperture is made of plastic, wood, or a thin or weak metal, then bits of plastic, wood, and/or metal will be impelled at high velocities into the hand and possibly the face of the shooter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,941 shows an example of a gun where the bullets are stored within the grip. A stiffening plate 34, which may be stainless steel, is provided in the grip, but there are numerous apertures in the stiffening plate through which hot gasses and shrapnel could pass in a blowout.